A Review of Training in Organizations: Needs Assessment, Development, and Evaluation, 4/E
Irwin L. Goldstein and J. Kevin Ford
Boston: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2002
ISBN 0-534-34554-9 $56.95 pp. 385
Review by Mike Thaman
Rhodes State College
Overview
In this new and updated fourth edition on training, Goldstein teams up with Ford which effectively showcases both of their areas of expertise. The subtitle reflects the path the chapters take in moving through the training continuum. The reader will find this layout exceptionally easy to follow and also easy to find information at a later date. There are very good author and topic indexes in the back of the book as well as a very substantial reference section. Purchase of the text
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Chapter 1: The Training Context
Billions are spent on training each year. Training is big business. Is all that training effective? Of course not. The authors point out that getting off on the wrong foot, i.e., by starting training without an adequate needs assessment, is certain to fail. Evaluation is not just what happens after training. It must be the core that all training is built around. Out of that context flows their entire rest of the text.
In this chapter the authors discuss training for the "global marketplace," the shift from manufacturing to service jobs, increasing technology in the workplace, and the growing skills gap caused by either underskilled or undereducated young people.
Chapter 2: A Systematic Approach to Training
This chapter is where the authors dive the deepest into instructional theory. They discuss assessment of the organization, management support, the individuals to be trained and the training itself. The reader will find the authors’ organization to be very logical as well as quite comprehensive in scope. Instructional techniques and training methods are introduced in this chapter.
Chapter 3: The Needs Assessment Phase
The professional contract trainer will find useful information in this chapter such as how you cope with an organization that has major internal flaws and conflict, yet still wants to hire you or your firm to conduct training. The authors caution against the temptation to move ahead and hope the problems go away. The authors move from that sound advice into how to build the relationships one will need to work effectively with the proper people in the organization who will ensure training success.
Once the proper contacts are developed in the organization, the authors move on to the proper assessment of the knowledge, skills and abilities that the participants will need to gain during the training. The fact that the authors spend almost half the chapter analyzing the organization before moving to training design should be fair warning to those trainers who move straight into the training phase when a training request is first received. For some readers, this chapter will provide invaluable as it cautions against jumping into training without understanding all the variables.
Chapter 4: The Learning Environment
The authors here use their personal expertise to highlight the core of organizational training – proper instructional design. Learning theory is interspersed with concrete examples of how to match types of training with styles of learning. Motivation of trainees is also introduced in this chapter. An introduction to transfer theory is given in this chapter. The transfer of knowledge, skills and abilities to the real job environment is always the goal of effective training. The authors clearly explain why that goal must be designed into the front end of the training, and not just as an afterthought.
Chapter 5: The Criterion Choices: Introduction to the Evaluation Process
If you have been raised on norm-referenced standards, you will want to pay special attention to this chapter on defining, building, and then training with criterion referenced standards. The authors again consistantly force the reader to "think ahead" to the final outcome of organizational raining and stay focused on that. One of the sections in this chapter that will definitely draw your interest is the section on "Criterion Contamination" – the influence of items that are not fully integrated into the criterion and can give false indications of what really has been accomplished. The authors mention three types of biases that can unintentionally influence the apparent success or failure of some training. Examples of this influence will provoke the reader to be more cautious in these specific areas, especially once they read how easy it is to miss these biases. Kirkpatrick’s theories of evaluation are discussed in this chapter as well. Again, the authors call the reader to firmly identify real desired results from training that exhibit themselves as on-the-job improvements and not just short term, post-training knowledge gains. The constant reinforcement of this concept will drive the reader to be far more aware than ever before of the end product that their training is producing.
Chapter 6: Evaluation Procedures
This chapter focuses on an area often overlooked or minimized in training design. That area is the use of the scientific method. It is refreshing to see anyone who spends proper time applying the scientific method in an area often called one of the "soft sciences." The authors do a great job of making the reader aware of things that might inadvertently appear to make training look successful yet that may have nothing to do with real cause/effect improvement in knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes. In the area of scientific validity, two areas are identified: internal validity and external validity. Internal validity is the accuracy of the training methods within the training group itself while external validity is how applicable the training would be with a different group of trainees. The authors mention several things that can falsely bias training results. These may include simple statistical sloppiness, poor selection of participants prohibiting proper analysis, failing to measure the influence of dropouts on evaluations, and worst of all, having no plan to compare results to pre-training knowledge, skills, attitudes. The authors make the following statement "Without the pretest, ascertaining any change as a result of the training treatment from before to after training is not possible" (186). They are careful to clarify that there is a place for training without a pretest, but no scientific comparison is possible without it.
Chapter 7: Training Delivery
Chapter seven focuses on where most training coordinators are most comfortable: the actual training and the various training methods. Large sections of this chapter discuss traditional training methods that have been used for many years. The meat of this chapter is the in-depth discussion of some of the newer methods. Self-directed learning receives ample discussion along with a well-produced section on simulators. Always, the authors take the reader back to the need to evaluate the results of each and every type of training used to make absolutely certain that desired results are the ones that the trainees actually exhibit.
This chapter also has a substantial section on emerging technologies. Most trainers are familiar with all these technologies because they have reviewed them, even if they haven’t yet used them. Computer-based training (CBT) is discussed and the pros and cons very fairly presented. The authors of distance learning and Web-based instruction, two emerging technologies at the college level, as well as predicting where that technology is headed in the near term. Virtual reality training, quite rare in widespread training venues, is also introduced and studied. The authors do an admirable job in introducing, reviewing, and honestly evaluating the place that these emerging technologies will have in the future of organizational training.
Chapter 8: A Variety of Training Interventions and Learning Experiences
In Chapter 8, a person’s progress is traced from that of new-hire to fully integrated employee. The authors cover socialization, on-the-job (OJT) training, apprenticeship, team building, cross training and even the possibility of a move up to management training. The authors highlight the tremendous variety of training methods that are available to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes to trainees. The methods described show the blurring of distinction between "training" and "performance enhancement."
This seems to be the weakest chapter of the book, but there is still an abundance of good material here for the trainer who has an interest in a specific area. I personally look at this chapter more as a resource chapter rather than a chapter to be read from start to finish. Even the authors seem to admit what a challenge they faced covering such a broad range of topics.
Chapter 9: Learning Systems
The final chapter is targeted toward those training coordinators who are training, not as contractors, but within their own organization. The systems approach to training is presented which will force the reader to investigate how the training function is integrated into their entire organization. Is the training function an integral part, or simply a department that does training? Is training looked upon as a necessary evil, or as an integral part of building a stronger, more competitive business? Some large companies that are successful in the global market are analyzed to see how they integrate their training into their corporate vision.
In this final chapter, the authors address some of the areas that professional trainers must deal within the new millennium to be fully involved with the community in which their business resides. These include community involvement with at-risk youths, facilitating school-to-work transitions, ensuring equality in training and promotions among all individuals, ensuring compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and caring providing for displaced workers. It is perhaps telling, but also unfortunate that the authors put this section at the end, but in all honesty that is how society all too often places those concerns as well.
Summary
This rather small textbook (6 3/8" x 9 1/4") seems overpriced at almost $57. But, on the other hand, it is small enough to pack up and carry around and read in your spare time. The chapters are very well organized and I found it very easy to pick up, read a section or chapter at a time, and highlight things to go back and reread.
I would suggest that every corporate trainer have this book on their "must read" list and that every contract trainer review it as they put their next training contract together.
The authors constantly focus our attention back to the real-world end results, not just the fact that we did some training for some trainees and earned some money for providing that training. As trainers, we need to constantly be calling ourselves to account. If we don’t, one of our customers eventually will, and we may well be found deficient. While the reader may not always agree with the topics and/or the emphasis that Goldstein and Ford put on an issue, they are so well presented that the reader will, at the very least, have to do a great deal of thinking about it before they reject it. Most readers will be in agreement with the majority most of what the authors say, but maybe not in how they emphasize those things in their own training. That also is a good response. If readers don't take a defensive posture, they will still take much away from the reading of this book.